I'll Be There For You
by StelenaEpicBeauty
Summary: AR 2003. Emily returns home to Port Charles. She has breast cancer and is comforted and cared for by none other than Sonny, a man who has a heap of problems of his own to deal with. Emily/Sonny.


**I'll Be There for You**

_**My newest Emily/Sonny fan fiction. Happy reading! Thanks to Lina for planting the idea for this in my head.**_

**Chapter 1**

May 2003

_You ever need anything … I'll be there for you._

Emily Quatermaine looked at the simple yet powerful words scrawled on the postcard as she she sat on her bed at the Quartermaine mansion. She had been back in town for a mere six hours and she was wondering why she had bothered returning at all. A single tear ran down her cheek as she thought of the fight she had just had with her former boyfriend Zander Smith. He had marched right out of there, believing she was addicted to prescription pills. _If he had any idea what the real truth was …_

She looked at the postcard in her hands again. Neatly printed at the bottom was a phone number. His cell phone number. She could call him. She _should_ call him. Though he had sent this months before, she knew he would still be there for her if he could. He had always been there for her, ever since she came to this town really.

She put the postcard down on the bed and reached for her own cell phone. She began to dial. Her hand was shaking a bit as she heard it begin to ring. It rang three times before she heard his gravelly voice come over the line.

"Corinthos," he said and she almost threw down the phone. But she reminded herself that this was Sonny. Sonny was good to her. Sonny was kind. If anyone could talk her down from this proverbial ledge she was quaking on, it was him.

"Hello?" Sonny said.

She finally spoke. "Sonny, hi, it's Emily. Emily Quartermaine."

"I know who you are, Emily. I recognized your voice right away."

Emily smiled in spite of herself. Yes, Sonny did know her. He knew her so well. So well in fact that he must have known that this wasn't a social call because he asked, "Emily, what's wrong?"

Emily looked at the pills that lay in the middle of her bed where Zander had thrown them in his anger. A tear dashed down her cheek.

"_Everything."_

She felt humiliated as she began to softly sob into the mouthpiece even though she knew Sonny would never judge her for it.

"Where are you?" Sonny asked.

"What – why –"

"I want to come see you," Sonny said. "You need someone and I would be happy to be that person you can lean on right now. You need someone."

"Yes," Emily sniffled. "I would like to talk to you. Maybe we can meet somewhere. I am in Port Charles now. I would invite you over to the Quartermaine mansion but Edward would throw a fit and ask a bunch of questions I just can't answer right now… Sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Sonny asked. "Nothing… Look let's definitely meet. What about the north pier? We can be alone there."

Emily sniffled. "That would be good."

"Okay I'll see you down there," Sonny said. "Emily, everything will be okay. Whatever's got you down … I will help you make it right."

_If only you could,_ Emily lamented silently. The truth was that no one could fix the mess she was in. Not even the powerful Don Corinthos. She was out of hope and felt incredibly helpless, a feeling she loathed. Still she knew Sonny wouldn't judge her or try to coerce her into doing anything she didn't want to do the way the majority of her family would. He would just be there for her … and that's what she needed right now. More than anything.

She dashed at her tears and said, "I'm headed down there right now. Thanks."

"Anytime," Sonny said and the line went dead. Emily turned around on the bed and began scooping the pills into her hand. She then poured them back into the unlabeled bottle and capped it. She stood and moved over to her dresser. She stuffed the bottle into the back of her bra and panty drawer along with the others and shut it tightly. She then grabbed her purse and hurried off to meet up with Sonny.

XoXoXo

Sonny was leaning against the railing, looking out over the water when he heard footsteps behind him. He turned, expecting to see the girl he had once known, but she didn't look much like the girl he remembered. She had grown and filled out in all the right places and her brown eyes … They were filled with regret and worry – the kind only a true adult understood. He immediately held out his arms to her and she stepped wordlessly into them.

He hugged her for the longest time as he felt her too-thin body shake against his as a sob rumbled up her body to part her lips. She buried her head in his neck and he lightly reached out and pushed her long, chestnut hair out of her teary face.

"Hey, hey there," he said. "Talk to me. What's going on, Emily? What's upset you? Did someone hurt you?"

She started to shake her head but that's when he spotted a bruise on her arm, one shaped like a hand-print. "Who hurt you?" he asked. "Who raised their hand to you?"

"Sonny, it's not like that," she said. "Not at all. Zander was just –"

"Zander Smith? That little prick put his hands on you?" Sonny shook his head and grit his teeth. "I am going to kill that bastard."

"Sonny, don't. He just thought he was doing what was best for me."

"He had no right! Emily, don't ever think someone leaving his … paw print … on a woman is okay."

"Okay, yes, he was wrong but he was scared. He was scared I was using drugs so he tried to shake some literal sense into me."

"Are you – are you doing drugs?" Sonny asked. He had seen up close and personal how drugs destroyed people and he didn't want to think that sweet Emily was abusing them.

"I am taking drugs," Emily said. "Pain killers and herbal tablets and …" She broke off, suddenly breathless. He instinctively took her hand gently into his and led her over to a nearby bench. He lightly pressed her down onto it.

"Take your time," Sonny said. She was clearly overwhelmed. The poor woman could hardly breathe. "Then tell me how I can help you."

Emily clutched the bench seat so tightly her knuckles turned white. She looked at Sonny with tears swimming in her big brown eyes. "Sonny, I am taking drugs. But not for the reason you think," she said. "It's medicine."

"You're – you're … sick?"

Emily nodded. "I am. I have – I have cancer, Sonny. Breast cancer just like my mother Paige did."

TO BE CONTINUED


End file.
